A Chance Encounter
by Asty
Summary: Young Kagome encounters someone she isn't destined to meet for 11 years. This story and its sequel, Another Chance Encounter, are posted here.
1. A Chance Encounter

A Chance Encounter  


Author's notes: Chuken - means "faithful dog" in Japanese. And a big thanks to Lisa for helping me finish this story, her ideas aided me greatly.

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"Kagome-chan! Don't go playing near that dirty well, you hear?"

Kagome's pregnant mother stood in the back doorway of their house, watching her daughter run off to play. She felt a slight kick interrupt her thoughts and she lovingly patted the bulge on her stomach. "You're so impatient, Sota. It won't be long now before you're out of there so just behave yourself. Kagome-chan, did you hear me!?"

"Haiii...!" Came the faint reply from somewhere near the shrine, Kagome's high childish voice meeting her mother's ears. Kagome's mother turned to enter the house, feeling another kick against her lower back. She only smiled though and continued to prepare that night's dinner.

Kagome picked her way through the brush, approaching the large shrine warily. She never went too close to it, her Grandfather and parents had warned her enough about that. But it wasn't all the scary monster stories her Grandfather told her that kept her away (she scoffed inwardly at the thought) but the weird feelings she always got whenever she came too close, just within reaching distance of the shrine walls. This time, like always, she circled widely around the structure, heading instead for the giant tree that stood behind it.

Kagome stopped suddenly though and ducked behind the nearest shrub when she saw that she wasn't alone in her destination.

A stranger, a man, stood before the tree, one black gloved hand placed upon its surface where the bark was worn away. Jeans and a large sweatshirt were his only articles of clothing, along with a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes. Short, ash white hair poked out from underneath the cap, two short strands coming out to rest on either side of his face.

Kagome backed away from him silently, wondering what he could possibly be doing here. He might be another customer that was lost, or...

She didn't have to chance to finish the thought though, for at that moment the man turned around to face her, his small nose twitching impishly.

"You can come out from there now," he commanded, his strong voice ringing through the quiet.

Kagome emerged from the bushes, her eyes wide with surprise. "Wow, how'd you know I was there?" He tapped his nose gently with one gloved finger. "The nose knows." He chuckled, a low, warm sounding thing, then turned to look back up at the tree.

"Nose...?" Kagome echoed quietly to herself, coming up to stand behind the man. "Are you here to buy something at the shrine? 'Cause I have to warn you, all my Grandpa's stuff doesn't work."

The man smiled at that, exposing two curiously sharp canines as he grinned, their white surfaces glinting in the sunlight. Kagome looked up and gasped slightly at the sight, which caused him to quickly shut his mouth, his golden eyes guiltily not meeting her own.

Kagome shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other for a few seconds, then turned back to the stranger. "What's your name?"

"Chuken," he replied.

"I'm Kagome. Yoroshiku!" she replied brightly, bowing formally at the waist. "My grandpa's teaching me to be a shrine maiden here. So are you here to buy something?"

His gave a small shake of his head, sending his white locks swaying. "This place is special to me. Sometimes I like to come back and remember everything that's happened..." His voice trailed away and his eyes once again turned to stare up at the tree.

"But they're good memories, right?" Kagome asked, coming to stand beside him and stare up at the tree with him."

"Aaa," he replied.

"My grandpa says this tree is reeeeally old. Do you think it was around when there were dinosaurs??"

He laughed. "I don't think so. Humans were here long before this tree was."

Kagome gave a small humph and crossed her arms at having her illusion destroyed. "How do you know? They could've."

He laughed again, seeming to find her discomfort amusing. "Sumanu, but how about believing in things like magic and demons existing when this tree was around?"

"Did they really?" Kagome asked, her anger quickly forgotten and her curiosity piqued.

Chuken's golden eyes twinkled with amusement. "What do you think?" he asked in response to her question.

Kagome looked away, her eyes growing thoughtful and betraying more than her years would have expected them to. "I think... it would have been wonderful if there really were magic and beasts back then. With knights and princesses and evil guys, just like in the story books!" Kagome spun around, arms outspread, as if to emphasize her excitement.

Chuken laughed good-naturedly at her joy and smiled with tenderness at her small form. "Yes," he whispered. "Just like in the story books..."

A voice rang out from the direction of the house. "Kagome! Kagome-chan, its time for dinner!" Kagome stopped her spinning and looked sadly in the direction of her home. "I..." She looked up at Chuken unhappily. "I have to go, my mommy's calling me."

Chuken nodded and tilted his head in the direction of her house. "Go on, your mom's waiting." Kagome nodded, her eyes growing a little larger as she watched Chuken for a moment. She backed up a step, her eyes not leaving his, then turned and ran for the house. However she only got a few steps when the tip of her foot tripped over an exposed tree root, and she went tumbling towards the ground. Much to her surprise though she never made contact with it and instead found herself in a warm embrace. Gently she was set upright and her brown eyes locked with Chuken's golden ones.

"Do...domo arigatou," Kagome said shakily, obviously not over the fall.

Chuken smiled warmly and squeezed her shoulders gently. "There there, nothing hurt na?" Kagome nodded sullenly.

On a whim Chuken grinned widely, exposing his small white fangs, which caused his eyes to sparkle with laughter.

His smile was too infectious and Kagome smiled back, finding herself more in awe of his curious fangs than afraid of them. She giggled after a moment when his goofy grin remained plastered on his face. After a moment his wide smile faded into a softer one, and with an affectionate pat on her shoulder he started to rise from his crouched position before her. He didn't make it up all the way though due to a pair of smalls arms that suddenly snaked their way around his neck.

Chuken stopped, surprised. This small girl, this sweet, caring girl, was hugging a perfect stranger, with no reserve and only with the purest intentions. Chuken felt his heart burst then break all over again. Carefully, slowly, he placed his gloved hands on her shoulder blades and lightly hugged her back, relishing in the smell that was uniquely Kagome as it drifted off her body.

Kagome pulled away after a moment and gave Chuken a sweet smile, then backed up and took off running towards her house.

Chuken watched her leave, rising from his knees when her form disappeared beyond the trees between the house and the shrine. He walked over to the ancient sacred tree and placed his gloved hand on it once more. "Kagome..." he breathed, a single tear rolling down his pale skin. "Aishiteru..."

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	2. Another Chance Encounter

Author's notes:  This is a sequel of sorts to my other story, A Chance Encounter, but perhaps prologue would be a more appropriate term since it takes place before the first fic, though was written after.  I'll let you decide.

Another Chance Encounter

"Tou-chan, ue!  Ue!"

The large playground was covered with children on the swings, jungle gym, slides, and in the sand filled boxes.  Peals of laugher echoed from every direction while the youth of the generation ran and played.  Parents, happily conversing while keeping a trained eye on their children, sat off to the side on benches and walls as their offspring rejoiced in the freedom of their age.

Among the commotion a raven haired girl flew happily into the air and was caught a moment later by her father's outstretched hands.

Kagome giggled exuberantly at the feeling of momentarily weightlessness and the way her heart leapt up into her throat each time she started to fall back down.

"Ue!  Ue!" she cried as her father caught her again.  Her similarly dark haired father laughed jovially at his daughter's enthusiasm.  "You might get sick again, Kagome-chan," he warned with a smile, setting her feet on the ground.

Kagome shook her head, long black locks falling over her small shoulders, and planted a cute pout on her childish face.  "I won't, I promise.  Again, again!" she pleaded loudly, stretching her hands into the air.

Her father grinned and picked her up, catching Kagome in a warm hug, then tossed her high into the air.  A smile broke out over his face at her squeal of delight, his daughter's face flushed with ecstatic enjoyment.  Who could have known that his little girl would enjoy flying so much?

Arms wrapping around her at the right moment when she started to descend ended her short flight, caught safely in the warm circle of her father's arms.  Kagome wrapped her small hands around his neck, pressing their faces stubbly cheek to chubby cheek.  "Tou-chan, daisuki daisuki!"

He nodded in return, kissing her soft pale cheek affectionately and hugging her small body tightly.  "Hai, daisuki Kagome-chan, zettai ni."

Not long after Kagome's sleeping body was gently placed into the back seat of their car, the setting sun shining behind her father's back.  He buckled her in to the child seat securely, stroking back her messy black locks as her head lolled to the side, a light snore escaping her pink lips.

He couldn't help but smile at the sight of his beautiful daughter.  "You wore yourself out today.  Just rest now, ore no tenshi."

Within minutes his Toyota pulled out of the crowded playground parking lot, bouncing along the road as they headed for home.  The three of them, Kagome, her father and mother, had just moved into a new apartment in downtown Tokyo, thanks to the money his new job had been creating for them.  If things continued the way they were, in a year they might be able to find a house of their own and have another child.

Kagome's father glanced in his review mirror and took in the sight of his sleeping daughter.  She was a blessing upon their family, each day of the 5 years she'd been in their lives filed with light and joy.  All he could have ever wished for in a daughter lay within her: smart, fun, beautiful, innocent, she held a limitless potential for what she might become in the future.  She was his angel.

The loud squeal of tires tore him from his thoughts.  Looking up sharply his hands flew to the top of the steering wheel, surprised etched across his face.  Veering erratically he punched the breaks, swerving to avoid the blinding headlights which were fast approaching head on.

Kagome was jerked painfully and awoke to the combined sounds of glass shattering, metal grinding, and tires squealing.  She looked around frantically, fearful yet not knowing what had happened, only that the sounds and the smells around her were horrifying and unfamiliar.  They had stopped moving and a strange light was around them, flicking red that cast strange shadows on the ceiling of their car, and there was a funny acidic smell that made her heart beat faster with adrenaline.

Hastily she unbuckled herself and stood on the seat to look out her spider web cracked window.  The sight that met her eyes terrified her even more.  Fire!  There was another car next to them and it was on fire!  With a loud gasp Kagome backed away from the window, hiccuping with the onset of tears.

"Tou-chan…" she whimpered with fright.  "Tou-chan!"

She drew her eyes away from the window to look up at the front seat, to the spot where her Tou-chan sat unmoving in his chair.  Crying in earnest now Kagome scrambled between the front seats, grasping at her father's arm to shake him with all the strength a five year old could muster up.  She slipped between the seats and felt her knee smack painfully against the emergency brake, one hand still clutching her father's shirt.

"Tou-chan!" she wailed, looking up to see her father staring emptily out the shattered front window, dark liquid spilling down from his right temple.  He didn't move.

More metal screeched and a blast of hot air was swept into the car, throwing Kagome's hair over her eyes as she turned to the source of the wind.  The passenger door had been ripped off and a man stood panting beside their car, thick white hair glowing orange as it whipped around in the winds created by the inferno.  He reached inside and wrapped strong hands around Kagome's waist, but found himself unable to move the sobbing child who was still clinging to her father's dead body.

"Kagome!" the stranger shouted, completely wrapping one arm around her middle while the other reached up to disentangle her fingers.

"No no no!" she screamed, legs kicking wildly, her other hand darting out to take a fistful of her father's bloodied shirt.

The man growled and got his other arm around her flailing body and gave a hard pull, the fabric of the shirt ripping from the strength of Kagome's grip.  Screaming and crying Kagome struggled to wiggle her way free of the binding hold she was in, arms reaching out towards the body of her father that was quickly receding away from her.  Tears streaming down her cheeks she felt a heavy cloak thrown around her, blanketing the intense heat that had assaulted them once they'd left the car.  Bouncing against the stranger's chest she sobbed and hiccuped, her struggles less violent, fingers limply reaching out for her father that was being consumed by the flames.  "Tou-chan!  Tou-chaaaaannnn!"

*~*~*

In a small dark room Kagome awoke suddenly, gasping from the haunting of a nightmare that was quickly fading away into memory.  Slipping out of bed her short legs stood on the carpeted floor unsteadily, tiptoeing down the barely lit hallway towards the kitchen in their small apartment.  Peeking around the corner she saw her ka-chan seated at the small table, head in her hands as she wept quietly.  A tiny vial of blue liquid sat beside her elbow, along with an empty white box with words printed on it Kagome couldn't read, but there was a picture of a baby on the side in plain sight.

Ka-chan cried a lot more now since the day Kagome had come home from the hospital and tou-chan hadn't.  She'd heard her mom and the man next door talking, saying that they were going to have to move to ojisan's soon because there wasn't enough money.  Kagome liked ojisan, but he acted funny sometimes and tried to tell her scary stories that really weren't that scary.  When he came over last week ka-chan cried a lot on him and then went to bed and cried some more, but ojisan had remembered to make her dinner, even though ramen wasn't her favorite.  She didn't want to move to ojisan's big house, there were so many weird smells and feelings there, small dark buildings and big trees that seemed too old to still be standing.

Shivering under her pajamas Kagome turned and crept back to her room.  Ka-chan didn't like to be bothered when she cried.  Back in her bedroom Buyo-chan, her kitten, was sleeping on her bed curled up in a little ball.  Kagome climbed under the covers, making sure to slip her legs around Buyo so as to not wake him, and settled down to go back to sleep.

Kagome awoke again later to feeling Buyo suddenly jump off her bed, returning circulation to one of her legs, but she stayed awake wondering what had scared him away.  She looked to her open window, watching the pale pink curtains flutter, and gasped when she saw a figure crouching on her window sill.

"Tou-chan," she whispered, feeling recognition in the figure even though she was unaware of it.  It disappeared though in the next billowing of her curtains and she found herself crying, curling under her blankets as the tears began to shake her small body, realizing that it must have been her tou-chan's ghost come to visit her.  Again she called for her father, but the words were lost to her mounting sobs.

Suddenly a pair of warm arms wrapped around her and she found herself pulled into a tight embrace, being rocked gently back and forth on her bed as she cried in earnest.  The smell was familiar, the arms strong, the soothing whispers from his mouth subduing her sadness and lessening the tight ache in her chest.  Exhausted, she felt herself being set back against her pillows, sleep resting on her eyelids as she gazed upon her comforter.  Eyes tinted gold by the streetlamp outside watched her faithfully until she fell into a peaceful sleep.


End file.
